In a vehicle body shop where repairs are accomplished to the body of a vehicle, one of the major difficulties is painting various pieces of a vehicle. For example, it is sometimes difficult to paint a door or other piece of a vehicle. Typically, an arithmetic increase in the number of steps for the painting process of a vehicle geometrically increases the painting problems.
For example, the painting of a vehicle door can be a problem. Typically, it is required to place the door in the painting chamber, paint one side of the door, dry the paint, remove the door from the painting chamber, allow the paint to cure for up to twenty-four hours or more, turn the door over, and then repeat all of those steps to paint the other side of the door. This multi-step procedure is expensive in terms of time and manpower.
It is also a difficult and clumsy handling procedure. Most of these steps require handling of the door to achieve the desired results. During handling, damage can be done to the paint job, which in turn requires correction. Storage of the part, while the paint is curing, is also a problem. So these multi-step handling procedures are at best undesirable, and at worst a major problem.
Also in a vehicle body shop, space is at a premium. If a rack is available to be used in the painting chamber, it can create more problems than it solves. Such a rack may take up too much space. This rack may additionally lack strength and mobility.
Also, the various parts to be painted require different size racks. It is sometimes more efficient to hang a device on a smaller rack than a larger rack. Also, a larger rack is not suitable for a smaller piece of material. It is much easier to hang a fender on a small rack than it is to hang a door of a vehicle on a small rack. Thus, the complications of the rack can add to the problems rather than solve the problems of painting the door or any other piece of a vehicle appropriately.
The other problem, of course, is space. If a rack is big enough and strong enough to support an item to be painted, it also takes up space. Space, of course, is at a premium. Thus, when the rack is not in use, there must be a way to conveniently store the rack without taking up space.
The bulkiness and weight of vehicle body parts make it difficult to make a rack suitable for use in a body shop. Racks known in the art lack the strength required and cannot be reinforced without a substantial loss in the required mobility.
The known adjustable racks also lack the desired strength. Again simply reinforcing those racks can destroy the very desirable adjustability. Clearly, substantial improvements are required to solve this problem in vehicle body repair art.
The ideas of mobility, strength, adjustability, and storability contradict each other. To maximize one of these items almost inherently weakens the other. Thus, it is very difficult to develop a rack to have the desired strength and adjustability, while maintaining the storability and mobility for those purposes.